After five weeks of incredible action in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, only eight teams remain, and in the first knockout match of the competition, we will see Wales taking on Argentina at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday evening.
Wales were drawn into Pool C of this competition and secured the top spot with a perfect record of four wins in four, while Argentina came second in Pool D, notching up 14 points in their four games, finishing four points behind England.
Match preview
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Wales, currently ranked seventh in the world rugby standings, will be hoping to finally reach the World Cup final this year, having only managed to reach the semi-finals in the first-ever tournament back in 1987 and then again in 2019.
Less than a year after being brought back as Wales' head coach, Warren Gatland now has the opportunity of guiding them to success in this tournament, with his side cracking arguably the most attractive quarter-final draw.
Entering the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final, Wales will be full of confidence having markedly enhanced their performance throughout the tournament following three lacklustre seasons.
They navigated the challenges on and off the pitch by securing a narrow 32-26 victory against Fiji in the opener and overcame Portugal 28-8 with a second-string squad in their second match of the competition.
However, their most satisfying win to date came in week three, when they smashed Australia 40-6, essentially knocking the Wallabies out of the tournament before seeing off Georgia 43-19 in their final group-stage match.
With all the momentum on their side, the Dragons enter this match as the favourites and will have a slight psychological edge, having beaten this opponent 20-13 in their most recent encounter back in November last year.
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Ranked just one spot below Wales in the official standings, Los Pumas are in no way out of this one, having previously defeated Australia in the 2023 Rugby Championship and putting up a huge challenge against the Springboks, losing by a single point this year.
Like their opponents, Los Pumas have earned a bronze at a previous Rugby World Cup and will hope to create history by reaching the final this year, though that could entail potentially competing against either Ireland or New Zealand in the subsequent rounds.
In 2023, Argentina's form has been notably improved from previous seasons, and they entered the tournament with a favourable draw but unexpectedly suffered a 27-10 defeat against England in their Pool D opener, which was a match they went into as favourites.
After the disappointing loss to England, Argentina secured a less-than-convincing 19-10 victory against Samoa before overpowering Chile, but their best performance came last week when they emerged as 39-27 victors against Japan to book their place in the knockout round.
Both these sides rely heavily on their forward packs, which could mean we are in for a titanic battle of the big men, and the winners of that tussle could very well be the ones that go on to reach the semi-final.
Wales Rugby World Cup form:
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Wales form (all competitions):
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Argentina Rugby World Cup form:
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Argentina form (all competitions):
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Team News
Veteran number 10 Dan Biggar, who had been sidelined with a pectoral injury, has successfully recovered and is set to feature in the starting lineup for Wales in this massive encounter against Argentina.
Biggar was brought onto the bench last week for Gareth Anscombe, who suffered a groin injury and has not fully recovered as yet, meaning that Sam Costelow will provide the fly-half cover on the bench this week.
Liam Williams was passed fit and takes his place at 15, flanked by Louis Rees-Zammit and Josh Adams, while George North and Nick Tompkins once again combine in the midfield.
Michael Cheika has made two changes to the Argentina squad for this match, one of which was enforced due to the injury-related absence of flanker Pablo Matera, who is now ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.
Facundo Isa will replace the injured Matera and will start at the back of the pack, while Juan Martin Gonzalez shifts into Matera's position at flanker.
Thomas Gallo, Julian Montoya, and Francisco Gomez Kodela have formed a cohesive front-row unit in this competition and retain their places in the team in front of lock pairing Guido Petti and Tomas Lavanini.
Wales starting lineup: 15. Liam Williams, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 13. George North, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Josh Adams, 10. Dan Biggar, 9. Gareth Davies, 8. Aaron Wainwright, 7. Tommy Reffell, 6. Jac Morgan (c), 5. Adam Beard, 4. Will Rowlands, 3. Tomas Francis, 2. Ryan Elias, 1. Gareth Thomas
Replacements: 16. Dewi Lake, 17. Corey Domachowski, 18. Dillon Lewis, 19. Dafydd Jenkins, 20. Christ Tshiunza, 21. Tomos Williams, 22. Sam Costelow, 23. Rio Dyer
Argentina starting lineup: 15. Juan Cruz Mallia, 14. Emiliano Boffelli, 13. Lucio Cinti, 12. Santiago Chocobares, 11. Mateo Carreras, 10. Santiago Carreras, 9. Tomas Cubelli, 8. Facundo Isa, 7. Marcos Kremer, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 5. Tomas Lavanini, 4. Guido Petti, 3. Francisco Gómez Kodela, 2. Julian Montoya (c), 1. Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16. Agustin Creevy, 17. Joel Sclavi, 18. Eduardo Bello, 19. Matias Alemanno, 20. Rodrigo Bruni, 21. Lautaro Bazan Velez, 22. Nicolas Sanchez, 23. Matias Moroni
Head To Head
These two nations have met on 21 occasions and Wales have been the dominant side, winning 14 of those matches. Argentina have won six times and one match has been drawn. The most recent encounter came in Cardiff in November, which Wales won 20-13.
We say: Wales 24-17 Argentina
Wales have shown already in this tournament that they are able to deal with playing in high-pressure situations as they did against Australia and Fiji. Gatland has got his side into a good rhythm over the last month, and we feel they will be too good for Los Pumas in this one.
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Devesh Jaganath
